Resentment festers. Thousands of years after the Empire of Kai’loth fell, the world of Tesseris is tenuously held together by the five pentarchs of the Crux. Outside the massive city, the pirates of the Verdant Sea grow bolder with each passing season, and strange tales spread of villages uprooted as if by giants, giving the pentarchs more pressing matters to worry about than corruption within their ranks. Yet in the shadows an order of monks has secretly trained and sent men into the world to find the lost heirs to the old imperial family…

Within the Crux itself, Damien the Noble Pentarch speaks on behalf of the southern continent. His conscience guides him to end the Crux’s corruption, but he quickly finds that little can be done without entering the shadows and alleys himself. Yet in those alleys normal folk like Fei spend their days, dealing with would-be attackers that target her for her youth and low status as a half-elf. Despite its flaws, some nobles of this metropolis offer their patronage to those like Fei achieve her dreams, but it may come at a price she’s unwilling to pay.

Meanwhile on the high seas, the cabin boy Sea Rat foolishly questions the deadliest pirate the world has seen in generations. Left for dead, he’s discovered and nursed by Wharf, a pirate weathered and beaten by decades of pillaging and plundering. Whether pity or mercy, the two begin an unlikely friendship as they set out to gain notoriety, testing the limits of what it means to call someone family.

Far off from the city and the seas, an elfling named Qel patrols the wilds. A mistake of youth finds him giving his life to the boy Tesador. Qel’s dealt little with other races, but he knows enough of men to see the features of the boy are odd, so much so that many will search for him, just as many have for generations before…